Veiled Existence

by Pietron, Barbara;

  Elletre stopped in her tracks, eyes narrowed and lips set in a grim line. “Ice,” she hissed.

  Ice yanked his head back, cursing his loudly thumping heart.

  “He’s close,” she muttered. “And I will find him.

  ”

  Jeni’s breath was rasping from her labored lungs when she reached the top of the falls. She paused, but only for a moment, before descending the steps, praying she’d made the right decision.

  Snaking under the boardwalk rail, she dropped to the slippery rocks below. Like last time, she scrambled over the moss-covered boulders bent at the waist, using her free hand to assist while the other held the flashlight. Her fingers however, were so numb they were becoming useless and she wished she’d thought to bring gloves.

  Shivering as she lowered herself to the flat rock, Jeni blanched at the thought of laying her bare hands on the frigid stone. But there was no other choice. She was the one with the knowledge they needed to defeat the witch. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she closed them.

  It took repetitive inhales and exhales to regulate her breathing. Then she pushed all the thoughts and worries out of her mind and sought the peace and serenity of nothingness. The cold was gone. The fear was gone. She reached for the cumbersome sensation of years passed, the foundation beneath her that would continue for ages. When she felt the heavy existence touch her consciousness and the feeling of vertigo, she shifted her gaze beyond.

  Jeni looked for the church steeple. It was harder to locate in the full darkness of night, with clouds now covering the sliver of moon. Turning her internal sight upriver, she sought the patterns of the effigy mounds that she’d seen on the map. Then she backed her focus to the small river and found the overpass.

  Her peripheral vision detected light and she shifted her gaze to a flickering glow behind a rock face. Looking through the landscape was disorienting, and Jeni zoomed in. The light must surely be a fire, but it appeared as though it was inside the bluff itself. In a cave, no doubt. Glancing to the river below, she saw the boats.

  “Teleportation takes a change in perception and consciousness,” Dale had said. “First, you intend to be elsewhere. Then you envision getting there. You have to ignore any rational voice that says it’s impossible. Remember, you don’t have the same physical restrictions between worlds.”

  “I will be at that cave,” Jeni thought to herself. It was her intention. Her want. Her need. She would whisk quickly across space and time and arrive at the Yellow River bluff.

  The scene in front of her didn’t waver, didn’t change in any way.

  What was she missing? What else did Dale say? “Try to sense when something magical is happening and go with it. You don’t need to understand it, just be willing.”

  Did she know what magic felt like? Jeni thought back to her time in the cave with the underwater monster. The surface of her memory held only fear: fear of being ripped apart, fear of being dragged to the bottom of the icy pool, fear of being trapped and dying in the pitch black underground. She pushed past that, trying to put herself back in that time, her back pressed to the cave wall, her hand clutching the pieces of broken thunderstone.

  She’d felt sick to her stomach, which was understandable considering the level of terror. It was that same sinking, queasy sensation that struck the moment a roller coaster crested the top of a hill and gravity and momentum drew it into its downward plunge.

  Like when she’d been the owl.

  Like seeing a vista from the top of a river bluff.

  Maybe that was how magic felt.

  Jeni set her sights on the cave again and set her intention to be there. Then she envisioned the quick drop down the gorge in front of her and the jerk back up the next rise. She felt her belly roll and she went with it, riding the ridge alongside the river like a roller coaster.

  When she came to a halt, she opened her eyes to find her hands pressed to dry, sandy stone. She was looking down the rock face, her fingertips inches short of the ledge she’d landed on. Carefully rising to her feet, she swept her flashlight over the area to orient herself, stopping when the beam revealed an arrow drawn on the stone surface. Moving closer, she spotted a second arrow and her chest swelled, sure that Ice had marked the way for her.

  Pointing her light in the direction indicated, Jeni saw the crevice in the bluff and her shoulders dropped. Even the knowledge that Ice’s and Tyler’s bulkier frames had passed through the small space didn’t alleviate the apprehension of becoming wedged, unable to move in or out.

  As images of her body sandwiched in the fissure flashed though her brain, she took a step closer to the crack in the rock and tottered for a moment, her knees still stiff from cold. Grasping a small tree to steady herself, she immediately yanked her hand away. “Ouch!” she hissed.

  Blood pooled in the fleshy skin at the base of her thumb. Fishing a mostly dry tissue from her pocket, she dabbed the shallow wound, finding that the pain had cleared her head, much like a slap in the face stopped hysterics. Without further hesitation, she shimmied into the cleft.

  As the passage widened, she breathed easier and strode swiftly to alleviate her jitters. At the fork in the tunnel, while searching for something to indicate which passage to choose, she heard a muffled yelp. Heart pounding, she hurried down the right shaft.

  Seeing the opening ahead, she slowed, approaching warily.

  Elletre’s voice cackled, “You’re going to kill me? I’ve existed for hundreds of years!”

  Jeni peeked around the edge and blinked, shocked by the civilized appearance of the space. Elletre and Ice were facing off at the right end of the room, preventing Jeni from relaying any of her new information. She’d have to find the cauldron on her own and do it quickly.

  Since the korrigan had her back turned, Jeni stepped partially into the doorway, hoping Ice would notice her. His eyes never left Elletre, but he seemed to pause for a moment before he said, “I don’t care.” He swiped a hand though his hair and only because Jeni had seen him do it so many times, did she notice his odd gesture: thumb pointing behind her, to the left side of the room. Then he lunged at Elletre.

  Tearing her eyes from the fight, Jeni looked to the left and saw Tyler’s still form lying on a couch. She dashed to him, hunched low, horror gripping her at the sight of his eyes open in a dull stare. Her fingers clutched at his wrist, searching for a pulse as her other hand pressed to his chest. The steady thump behind his ribcage released her breath in a rush.

  Ice babbled as he struggled with Elletre. “…is all illusion.” His words were punctuated by grunts and groans. “…this room…all fake.”

  Jeni’s eyes darted to the tapestry covered walls. Fake? Scuttling nearer the fireplace, she ran her hand over the wall, eyes widening at the feel of cold stone. Letting her fingers trail along the rough surface, she duck-walked until she encountered an opening, seemingly in the middle of a woven hunt scene. Was this what Ice had pointed at? With a last worried glance at Ice grappling with Elletre, Jeni moved through the tapestry.

  Fumbling for her flashlight, she found herself in a narrow passage filled with rubble. Picking her way over the rocks, Jeni directed her light into every crack and hollow she passed, recoiling at some of the unidentified debris. A basin-like depression was the only thing that remotely resembled a cauldron. A spring trickled from the cave wall and pooled in the rock formation, overflowing and spreading over the cave floor. The sounds of struggle from the large cavern diminished, making Jeni nervous.

  Though the passage grew more obstructed, she pushed on, her movements stiff with panic as she clambered over slabs of rock rising higher than her knees. Should she continue to look for the cauldron or go back and help Ice? Why did he point in this direction? Did he know something was here or was he just guessing? Her heart pounded as her flashlight revealed a definitive end to the tunnel and she turned back, rechecking every gap and hole
, investigating and probing the animal remains or nests she might have passed over too quickly the first time.

  Ice’s voice floated down the tunnel, weak with exhaustion.

  Jeni returned to the bowl-shaped formation in the cave wall. About the size of a small keg tub, it was big enough and low enough to climb into. Uneasiness stole over her. Wrinkling her forehead, she pulled the car key from her pocket. Lowering it into the basin, she winced as the water needled the wound on her thumb but continued, scraping the key at the bottom of the depression, thinking about the mineral deposits that formed on the inside edge of flower pots.

  The silver key glinted in the beam of her light. No. The glimmer wasn’t from the key, she noticed, excitement surging. Sediment had flaked away, revealing a golden metal underneath.

  As she returned the key to her pocket, it dawned on Jeni that she felt no soreness from the puncture at the base of her thumb. She stared for a moment, stunned. Her skin was unblemished.

  The wound was healed.

  This was the cauldron of rejuvenation.

  The concealment was brilliant: hidden in a natural rock formation where it would be perpetually filled and impossible to spill. Evaluating the trickle of water leaking from the rock above the basin, Jeni clamped the flashlight between her teeth. She plunged both hands into the bowl and began scooping water over the edge, hoping she might make enough headway to weaken Elletre. Her progress was encouraging at first, but as the bowl became emptier, it was evident that the flow of water was more significant than she’d originally thought. Jeni groaned in frustration.

  The sounds of Ice’s struggle with Elletre ceased. Jeni stood motionless, praying the next voice she heard would be Ice’s, looking for her. Instead, Elletre’s voice echoed in the passageway. “Tyler, be a sweetheart and drag Ice to the pool in the back. He’s more trouble than he’s worth.”

  Jeni rushed through the cluttered tunnel, oblivious to the scrapes and bruises she amassed in her haste, pausing only when she reached the main chamber to contemplate a means of defense. She stuffed a large rock into her pocket and gripped an even bigger one in her hand. Then she burst into the room.

  Tyler had grasped Ice’s limp form under the arms and was hauling him to the opposite side of the room.

  “No!” Jeni cried. “Leave Ice alone. I’m the one you want.”

  Elletre whirled to face her, bulging eyes and arched eyebrows quickly melting to a cunning, narrow regard. “Well, well, isn’t this sweet.” She snapped her fingers and Tyler stopped moving.

  “Let Tyler and Ice go,” Jeni said, allowing her anger to shroud the fear screaming in her head to run.

  Elletre tapped a finger on her ruby red lips. “I don’t think so. It seems victory is mine for the taking.”

  “Why…why are you doing this?” She stood at an angle, hoping her body eclipsed the hand grasping the rock.

  “It seems you’ve made a powerful enemy, my dear.” Elletre strolled toward Jeni. “He doesn’t appreciate being stolen from, as I learned firsthand.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jeni didn’t have a plan; she only knew that as long as Elletre was talking, Ice and Tyler were safe.

  “It turns out the new kid on the block can’t simply come in and steal souls from an established soul collector,” Elletre said, her eyes glittering in the candlelight. “But as I needed them, I struck a bargain. You just happen to be part of the current deal.”

  The korrigan needed souls? “I thought you killed men for revenge. For Deirdre.”

  Elletre’s gaze sharpened to a point. “I sacrificed my life for her, raising her from a babe in solitude, protecting her from her foretold future. Men, in their battle to possess her, caused her death. In anger, I consulted my druid roots, taking the form of an entity that could lure men in so I could take revenge.” She paced in front of Jeni, backing her against the wall. “Using their essence I was able to extend my crusade indefinitely, making men pay for the swine that they are.”

  Knowing the spell Elletre cast to kidnap Ice had eventually worn off, Jeni thought if she kept the korrigan talking as long as possible, Tyler might come around. “Then you followed Deirdre here?”

  Elletre spun on her heel, facing Jeni. “One day, a man ripped my Deirdre from her grave. Of course I followed. But here, I found I was not free to acquire what I needed to prolong my existence.” She took a step closer to Jeni and extended her neck until their faces were inches apart. Her voice dropped an octave. “Deals can always be made if you’re willing to serve.”

  Jeni pressed into the wall. “What deal?”

  Elletre’s mouth curved into a smirk. Her perfect skin and symmetrical face that Jeni once coveted now appeared false, a mask. “The deal that’s about to play out.” She thrust her arms out open handed and the room’s enchantment fell away, leaving only make-shift furniture and candles, looking oddly out of place.

  Seeing her opportunity, Jeni raised the arm with the rock, but in a flash, her wrist was caught in a vise-like grip. Elletre laughed, jerked Jeni’s arm once, and the rock tumbled to the ground. As she tried to wrench free, the korrigan twisted her arm behind her back as though she were a doll. Talon-like fingers gouged Jeni’s skin and a squeal escaped from between her lips.

  Elletre drove Jeni toward an opening previously hidden by the illusions. “Tyler, come with us, and bring Ice.”

  Unlike the congested tunnel where the cauldron was hidden, Jeni was pushed through a short, narrow tunnel into an open space. Residual light from behind them revealed little, but dripping water echoed off distant walls and Jeni could make out a black expanse that she guessed was a subterranean lake.

  When Tyler trudged past and dropped Ice unceremoniously on the ground, Elletre ordered him to retrieve one of the candelabras.

  As Jeni struggled, the korrigan jerked her arm higher, forcing her to arch backward uncomfortably. Stalactites protruding from the cavern’s ceiling gained definition as the space filled with flickering light. Jeni heard Tyler’s footfalls and then he came into her peripheral view. “Tyler, you don’t have to do what she says.” Jeni turned her head thinking if only she could get her cousin to look at her, she might get through to him. But his eyes stared dully across the water.

  Elletre cackled with delight. “I suppose I should thank you. I hadn’t expected to witness the geis come to pass, but now I can. Tyler, splash some water on Ice. Wake him up.”

  Jeni strained to see where Ice lay on the ground, Tyler bent over him. When her cousin stepped away, the gleam of flames reflected in Ice’s open eyes. He lifted a hand to his head and sat up, his brow pulled low. As he rose to his feet, Elletre moved toward him, pushing Jeni in front of her. “Look who showed up, Ice. Your true love.”

  An instant before she was shoved into Ice’s arms, Jeni saw his eyes widen in understanding and horror. He’d taken a step back—away from Elletre, holding Jeni—and now they both stood at the edge of the pool. She could feel his heartbeat thrumming as water leaked into her sneakers.

  Jeni bunched her muscles and dropped to a sudden crouch, escaping Ice’s hold. As she lunged, he caught her arm, yanking her back. He started to drag her deeper into the water and she dug her heels into the gravely bottom, terror burning inside her. When it came to ways to die, drowning was way at the bottom of her list. The thought of holding her breath until her body gave in and tried to aspirate liquid absolutely horrified her.

  Ice’s hold became rougher and more insistent as she fought. The callousness of his actions scored deep within her, the behavior so unlike him, and she let loose a sob. The rock she’d shoved in her pocket beat against her leg with every step. It shouldn’t be this way. It shouldn’t be her against Ice. The korrigan was the enemy.

  Mid-thigh deep in the icy water, Jeni stopped struggling, though she had no control over the hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She searched her memory for relevant pieces of information that
she’d read at the library and that Dale had told her. Slipping her hand into her pocket, she refused to look into Ice’s crazed eyes, attempting to divorce her feelings for the boy she loved and see him as a foe.

  He forced her down and she shuddered from terror as much as the cold. Elletre’s laughter echoed throughout the cavern. Setting her actions in her mind—a last ditch effort of a plan—Jeni swung her arm out of the water and bashed the rock into the side of Ice’s head, letting out an anguished scream. His head jerked sideways and he released her, stumbling backward and then collapsing to his knees.

  Choking out a whimper, Jeni lunged after him, slamming the rock down on top of his head with a sickening clunk. Ice crumpled and she dropped the rock, grabbing his wrists and hauling him to the shallower water. Tears blurred her vision as she dug her fingers under the chain on his neck and pulled it over his head.

  Bent over in grief, she slogged toward shore, toward the korrigan who continued to chuckle. “Good show, but death by boyfriend or death by cousin, you still must die.”

  Before Elletre could order Tyler to attack, Jeni rushed forward, swinging the medal. The pendant grazed the korrigan’s jaw and she shrieked, a wisp of smoke rising from an angry red welt. With a brief advantage, Jeni gathered the necklace and mashed it against Elletre’s forehead. The korrigan screamed and fell, hands over her face.

  Jeni ran, looping the chain over her head. It was her only weapon.

  Charging through the candle-lit chamber, she fumbled for her flashlight and flipped it on. As she dodged into the dark passage, she heard Elletre shout Tyler’s name. She arrived at the cauldron, her heart a runaway train and the image of her hand bashing a rock into Ice’s head repeating over and over. She dropped the flashlight, not needing to see as she began furiously scooping water over the lip of the basin.

  Absorbed in her task, a scrape on stone was the only warning Jeni had before Tyler barreled into her. She stumbled, the back of her knees slamming into a huge rock and knocking her down. Her limbs floundered for a moment, like a beetle on its back, and then Tyler grabbed the front of her jacket and hauled her up. Programmed to destroy, he wrapped an arm around her neck and dragged her to the bowl slowly refilling with water.